The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Does Mayor George Fontaine have a right to seek funding from cottagers who live outside city limits? Trevor Miller While it is fair to expect local cottagers to chip in toward some of the costs of running the city they benefit from, the nearly $900 a year Mayor Fontaine has presented to the cottage association looked like he took the city's budget shortfall and divided it by the number of cottages in the area, then reverse-engineered the line items accordingly. Some cottage dwellers don't even live in the area year-round; placing a tax burden on them that is more than three times what some homeowners in town pay is absurd. Ken Mansell At this point it is not possible to say if Mayor Fontaine has the right to seek funding; that, I think, will be determined by the province. Certainly he has an obligation to try and balance the books and this seems to be a justifiable attempt at doing that. Both sides have valid arguments and I do not think they can settle this by sitting down and talking anymore. Both sides have become entrenched; a third party must decide, and I doubt they will want to make enemies because they (the provincial government) will make a decision that will not be in both parties' favour. Denny Hyndman I would say no, unless all out-of-towners are subjected to it. Targeting this group of cottagers is careless considering all of the other non-Flonners who use local amenities, such as Amisk Lake cottagers and the rest. I hate to say it, but city amenities are a business _ if they are not generating funds and operating in the black, they should cease. I suspect this talk of annexation is Flin Flon's official attempt to levy costs of a water treatment plant that none of us can afford.
